Arkansas Carry

Open Carry

You can Open Carry in Arkansas as there is no law covering that aspect of carrying firearms. That all changes once you enter a vehicle. There is a law covering carrying in a vehicle so you must have a permit to carry a handgun in a vehicle unless it is unloaded and stored out of reach of any of the occupants.
5-73-120. Carrying a weapon.
(a) A person commits the offense of carrying a weapon if he possesses a handgun, knife, or club on or about his person, in a vehicle occupied by him, or otherwise readily available for use with a purpose to employ it as a weapon against a person.
(b) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) "Handgun" means any firearm with a barrel length of less than twelve inches (12") that is designed, made, or adapted to be fired with one (1) hand;
(2) "Knife" means any bladed hand instrument that is capable of inflicting serious physical injury or death by cutting or stabbing. It includes a dirk, sword or spear in a cane, razor, ice pick, and a throwing star, switchblade, and butterfly knife; and
(3) "Club" means any instrument that is specially designed, made, or adapted for the purpose of inflicting serious physical injury or death by striking, including a blackjack, billie, and sap.
(c) It is a defense to a prosecution under this section that at the time of the act of carrying:
(4) The person is carrying a weapon when upon a journey;
(8) The person is in a motor vehicle, and the person has a license to carry a concealed weapon pursuant to § 5-73-301 et seq.

You can Open Carry in Arkansas as there is no law covering that aspect of carrying firearms. That all changes once you enter a vehicle. There is a law covering carrying in a vehicle so you must have a permit to carry a handgun in a vehicle unless it is unloaded and stored out of reach of any of the occupants.

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Actually that is not quite correct.

You can open carry on private property...if the local ordinances allow it.
The law specifically states that open carry is allowed if in the act of hunting, during an open hunting season.

Otherwise, if you try walking around with an openly displayed gun, you'd better have a badge clipped to your belt within 3 inches of the gun. If you dont, you will be confronted and more than likely arrested and then you can let the judge tell you his interpretation of the law.

5-73-120. Carrying a weapon.
(a) A person commits the offense of carrying a weapon if he possesses a handgun, knife, or club on or about his person, in a vehicle occupied by him, or otherwise readily available for use with a purpose to employ it as a weapon against a person.

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notice these words...or otherwise readily available for use with a purpose to employ it as a weapon against a person

If you are not n the act of hunting, then it assumed that you are carrying a gun to defend yourself in which case the gun would be deployed as a weapon against a person.

Somehow I doubt that you could convince anyone that you were hunting while walking around the local Walmart toting your gun.

Pretty much every city has a local ordinance that defines it.